


A Silent Resolution

by BunnyJess



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brothers, Family, Gen, Good Older Sibling Dick Grayson, Good Parent Talia al Ghul, Grief, Gunshot Wounds, Heir to the League, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Health Relapse, Mental Health problems, Mentioned - Jason Todd/Kyle Rayner, Mentioned Duke Thomas, Mentions of joker - Freeform, Mission Gone Wrong, Non-Graphic Violence, Off Screen Violence, PTSD, Protective Cassandra Cain, Protective Damian Wayne, Protective Dick Grayson, Sign Language, Slight fluff, Suicide Attempt, The League of Assassins (DCU), Tiger mum Talia, Tim goes snooping, batarang scar, drug overdose, injuries, life threatening condition, mixed drug overdose, mute character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:21:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23315302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyJess/pseuds/BunnyJess
Summary: Jason's siblings discover just what happened in the showdown with Bruce and Joker; along with the far reaching consequences. Secrets are revealed and Jason learns that he has more than just one sibling who loves him.
Comments: 52
Kudos: 424





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Garpie64 posted this prompt and I couldn't resist filling it. 
> 
> **PROMPT** Jason keeps the batarang Bruce used to slit his throat with him at all times. It still has his dried blood on it. After a mission gone wrong resulting in Jason being brought to the Cave to treat his injuries, Dick or one of the younger Bats discover it and confront Jason about it.   
> Optional: Jason simply answers by pointing at the scar on his throat. "Bruce made his choice. It just wasnt me."

It was supposed to be a simple mission. Bruce had promised Dick as much as he’d handed it over. Only telling him he’d need backup. Dick had thought through his options and called Jason in. An easy mission was always a good excuse to spend time with his most prickly of siblings.

A simple mission it was not. Nightwing has ended up having to race back to the cave. His hands slick with his brother’s blood. The Batmobile drove them on autopilot as he fought desperately to stop Jason bleeding out from three gunshot wounds. Easy missions didn’t end in three gunshot wounds and one of his team almost dying. Dick knew Jason hadn’t been careless. His brother never was, almost teaching Bruce levels of preparedness when it came to anything he did.

The only words he’d gotten out of his brother was to not take him to the cave. A stupid request he couldn’t follow through on. Jason needed hospital level care and only Alfred could provide that to the Bats and Birds. It’s not like he could just walk his wanted brother into the hospital and request their help. Not with his brother so obviously Red Hood. The only place that wouldn’t arrest him on sight was the Narrows and that area of Gotham didn’t have a trauma centre.

It took Alfred and Dick hours to stabilise Jason. The loss of blood and subsequent medications keeping him under long enough for them to repair the damage done. The bastards they’d been taking out had armour piercing rounds. They’d torn through Dick’s brother like a hot knife through butter. He lost count of the amount of stitches they put in. Of the number of times it looked like he might not have been quick enough.

Dramatic was the best way to describe how the trio had spent the last few hours. Tim, Damian, Cass, and Duke eventually joined them. Dick was surprised that Bruce wasn’t at Jason’s bedside. His fallen son on the brink once again. Surely if ever there was a time to get over yourself it’d be then.

Then Tim started sorting out Jason’s gear and it all got more dramatic. The third Robin pulled one of Bruce’s older style batarangs out of a pocket. The metal tinted with blood that looked like it had been sealed in with resin. None of it made sense so Tim placed it at the foot of Jason’s bed and went back to work. They’d have time for answers. Three GSW’s weren’t enough to take out his brother, his Robin.

Jason woke up long after they’d all meant to have finished patrol and been in bed. Dick watching as he froze after taking in just where he was. None of it made sense. His brother shouldn’t be showing fear in their home. He should know he was still welcome, that it was his home too.

After Alfred did his checks, Tim stepped forwards and held up the batarang. “Why have you got this Jay?”

“B hasn’t used those since you’ve been back. Where did you even find it?” Dick tacked on. Desperate for answers.

His first sibling raised his hands and frowned at the IV line in one of them and the pulse oximeter on the other. Ignoring Alfred’s warnings he tugged the pulse ox off and pointed to his neck. To the neat white scar that each of his siblings assumed came from his time with the League of Assassins.

_Bruce made his choice. It wasn’t me_. Jason signed slowly. His hands fumbling due to the pain medications coursing through his system.

A deathly silence filled the room. Jason couldn’t be implying what they thought he was, was he? Each of the boys looked to Cass. Her ability to speak people perfect for the situation.

None of them liked what they saw. She looked heartbroken. A deep sadness radiated from her and her eyes were welling with tears. “True.” She said, breaking each of the boys.

Dick didn’t understand. Jason had spoken to him just before he’d dragged the larger man into the car. Then it hit Dick, he’d been wearing his helmet. “Little Wing,” Dick spoke cautiously. Jason might be drugged to the gills but he’d still be able to run if they were too harsh. “Did that, that batarang render you mute?”

Jason nodded his head. His hands raising once more. _B got to pick between Joker and I. He picked the clown. It was Talia who pulled me from the rubble long after he’d left. T who’d patched me up and spent months helping me learn sign in all the languages I once spoke._

Damian stepped forward, suddenly dropping to one knee with his head bowed. It was a clear sign of respect and hierarchy he’d never shown anyone. Not even his own father. “I didn’t not recognise you before Ghost. Please forgive my indiscretion Heir to the Demon.” His words were clear as he spoke Jason’s formal League title.

The family was stunned. The night filled with revelations that none of them expected. Dick was just moving to take his brother’s hand when the door opened and Bruce stepped through. He was still dressed as the Bat, complete with cowl. An uncomfortable tension fell over them all as their father caught sight of Damian raising from his supplication and the batarang laying on the bed.

“What happened?” He growled out.

Dick winced as he saw Jason flinch. His brother had _always_ had problems with men shouting at him. He figured it had only gotten worse since Bruce slit his throat. It’s harder to talk back when you’re relying on your hands.

“You. Leave.” Cass stepped in front of Jason. Her baby brother, no matter what he or the paperwork proclaimed, needed her to protect him. Protect him she would. Until the last breath left her body and even then she couldn’t see herself stopping.

Bruce ignored his daughter, trying to step around her to get to Jason. “What did you say to them? What lies have you fed them?”

The siblings couldn’t believe their ears. A man who’d broken to the point of suicidal thoughts after the death of his Jay-Lad was forcing that same son out of their family.

“He can’t say anything you entitled old man!” Damian snarled, rounding on his father, looking every inch the League assassin he’d been trained to be. “Your stupid toy and false morals slit my brother’s throat. For thinking it was the right choice to slit the throat of the heir to the Demon I should do the same to you. You insipid fool.”

Bruce spluttered. “Heir to the what?” He swung his gaze between Damian and Jason. Face getting colder with each time his gaze fell on the man laying in the bed. “Can’t you see he’s lying to you. He can clearly talk!”

Jason laughed. It was a quiet, gasping sound. No real noise coming out. _I’m really not. I wouldn’t lie about this. You chose keeping Joker alive over helping me be free of my continual nightmare._

Damian rounded on his brother. Shock written over his face. He’d never known his brother to be scared of anything. Always the first to jump into situations if it meant saving his family. He watched Jason flinch as Bruce growled again, starting to spout some shit he wasn’t listening to. Instead he pulled out his phone and video called Talia.

“Habibi, it’s been too long.” His mother’s voice was a calming balm to the righteous anger now flowing within him. Every part of his training, past and present, begging him to take down the criminal.

“Mother,” he nodded his head in respect. “I have a question.” He’d turned so only he could be seen on screen. An easy way to get her to spill the truth and for the family to hear that same truth. She waved a hand for him to continue. “Did my father slit my brother’s throat and render him mute?”

She sighed, running a hand through her black hair as the memories of finding her first child buried under rubble and bleeding out flashed through her minds eye. “Yes Habibi. It is something I blame myself for every day. I hadn’t been close enough to save him before it happened as I wanted to give my son the space to confront his father. I will always regret not being closer, if I had then perhaps he wouldn’t have had the blade thrown at him at all.”

Jason smashed his fist into the bed railing causing Damian to look up. After a brief non-verbal conversation the younger turned the phone to Jason. _No Ma, you know it wasn’t your fault. He made…_

“Jason Peter al Ghul if you say ‘he made his choice’ I swear to god I will come over there.” Dick just about managed to stop himself from laughing. The _great_ Talia al Ghul sounded nothing like the daughter of the Demon and one-hundred per cent exasperated mother. “I am your mother and I will always carry the burden of every injury my boys get. Wondering if there is anything I could have done to prevent it. Now, if that is all, I really must get back to work. You two boys look after yourselves and each other. Also, Jason, once you’re better you _will_ be explaining to me why you are in a hospital bed.”

Jason grimaced as Talia ended the call. His eyes avoiding the dark shadow still standing in the door. There had been two things he never wanted Bruce to discover. Now, he’d found out both in a matter of minutes.

To the man’s continual surprise, each of his siblings had moved into a protective formation around his bed. Each radiating different levels of guilt and anger. It was confusing, uplifting, terrifying. They should all see it as penance for what he did to Tim. Not be forming around him as if they were choosing him over their father.

Damian was stood at the front of the group. His hand resting on the hilt of his katana. “Father, I suggest you leave. My siblings and I have matters to discus and then we will be taking my brother somewhere safe, somewhere you will not be able to get him. If you wish to remain unhurt heed this warning, he is no longer your son. He is my mother’s son and our brother. If you go near him again I will enable the League to kill you. The heir deserves justice.”

It was clear to everyone that he wasn’t messing around. So, for quite possibly the first time in his life, Bruce turned and left. Taking what his son had said to heart. He needed to do more research anyway, he was sure Jason was lying. It was just a matter of finding out how.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please read the updated tags!

It felt like the world was falling to pieces around him. Jason hadn’t meant for everything that had happened to happen. His brothers and sister weren’t meant to find out Bruce had taken his voice. It was meant to be a secret he’d keep forever. Never wishing to taint the way they saw their father figure. 

Instead, like he always felt he did, he’d fucked everything up. He’d gotten so hurt that they’d found out. All of them crowding around him and asking questions. The phone call to Ummi. It had all been too much. Then to find out that Roy planned on taking a step back to focus on his daughter while Kori took time off to peruse her blossoming modelling career. 

It was all too much. 

The final nail in the proverbial coffin had been Kyle telling him he was needed in some far off sector and wouldn’t be home for months. He’d not even been able to tell Jason in person; just a special call from Oa before he left. It was the last straw. 

Jason found himself sat on the floor of his safe house while his thoughts span. Twisting and knotting up into a horrible irreparable mess. Loaded gun in his hand as a last resort. His first option sitting to his left. 

The orange of the pill bottles seemed to glow in the dusky light streaming through his windows. Red Hood was due at a meeting in six hours. His lieutenants waiting for information on the latest shipment. He just couldn’t go. Couldn’t get the motivation to keep pushing through the fog, every step feeling like walking through custard. 

A battered disposable cell lay busted at his feet. The constant ringing having irritated his ears and forced him to smash it. He had no idea who had been phoning. His eyes too unfocused to read the number. 

With a heaving breath Jason pushed down on the first white lid and twisted. The child lock springing open and forcing his mind to focus. First would be the codeine. The opioid hopefully numbing him enough to ignore the residual pain from the mission he’d been injured during. 

The small pills seemed harmless. Looking like they couldn’t contain the lethal levels the amount the bottle held. Perfect to get down with a swig of water. 

Next came the Valium. Both drugs had been easy to get with his control over the drug trade. His lieutenants used to him pocketing any meds he needs with the life he leads. The pills going down in a couple of handfuls, both bottles empty. 

****   
Talia was terrified. She’d been trying to get ahold of Jason since the call with Bruce. Her fear for her son trumping any formal peace treaty. To hell with any stupid rules about staying out of the city. Her eldest boy needed her. 

Getting into the city and to the safe-house his signal had disappeared at took her too long. Every minute putting his life in jeopardy. It was all too similar to all those years ago when she’d been digging through the rubble. 

Last time she’d been close by. The assassin just managing to get there on time. This time Talia knew there was every chance she’d fail him. 

The assassin didn’t let the multiple locks on the door stop her. Ubu breaking through it easily. Her heart breaking at the sight greeting them. 

Jason was slumped on the floor. His skin was clammy and far too pale. His chest was only just rising and falling. 

Running up to him, Talia crashed to her knees. Flashbacks of years ago in the same blasted city threatening to break her focus. She rolled him onto his back while screaming his name, the name she’d chosen for him when he was fifteen. 

There was no response. 

One of her team pulled her back so their medic could look him over. Her expression turning grim as she noted all his symptoms. With blue lips and such a pallor to him it was clear his pulse and blood pressure were dangerously low. To the point she wasn’t sure how much longer his brain would get adequate oxygen. 

“Mistress, he needs emergency hospitalisation. The heir will not survive transport anywhere outside the city.” The medic’s words crashed Talia’s fragile hopes. Her son was in danger and she’d taken too long to get to him. She couldn’t fail him the way his first adoptive parent had. She wouldn’t. 

Luckily they had the right transport, Talia refusing to leave anything behind. They scooped him up and ran, the medic preparing to intubate him on the way. 

Gotham General was a cesspool. The staff tried their best with what they had. Patient numbers regularly exceeding supply. As was to be expected in a hospital filled with such horrendous people. 

The medic ran ahead while her assistant bagged Jason, steady breaths to aid him as they followed her inside. Her voice already getting the attention of the emergency staff. Talia watching as her son was wheeled into the trauma room and her being stopped from following. 

It felt like it had been hours later when a doctor and nurse finally approached them. A glance at the clock showing it had only been one. “Mr Head’s mother I presume?” The surprisingly soft spoken doctor asked. 

“Please call me Talia. How is my son?” She switched her voice to the more Americanised accent she only used stateside. 

“Jason is stable for now. I have a couple of questions for you regarding his blood work and what’s happened.” Talia nodded her head at him to continue. He took a breath and looked over at the nurse for support. “Does your son have any addictions you’re aware of or has he been through anything recently that could have prompted him to attempt suicide?”

Those two little words made ice flood Talia’s veins. She hadn’t thought about the situation she’d found Jason in. Had denied what had actually happened. However, for her son to heal she knew she had to face it. “He doesn’t have any addictions, medications are something he only takes if a boxing match goes drastically wrong and he’s severely injured as his birth mother died of an addiction induced overdose. I know his father, they’re estranged, and confronted him. He refused to believe how Jason had come to be mute. It, it was probably the stressor.” 

“Thank you Talia, I’m sorry for having to ask this next one. Does Jason have a history of mental health problems and suicidal behaviour?” His soft voice was starting to grate on Talia. She was used to the cold but caring ways of the League medics. They understood the benefits to efficiency. 

“My son does have ptsd from a past history of parental and familial abuse. I tried to stop him returning to Gotham but his friend had work here and he didn’t want him coming alone. With his father being here; along with his siblings, only one of which he gets along with; he was probably already fighting his symptoms when that bastard confronted him.” Talia shook her head, clearing away the rage that was trying to build. She could blow up at Bruce later, right now her son needed her to focus. “He has no history of suicide attempts and before you ask, it was his father that gave him the scar on his neck and made him mute. He didn’t do that to himself.” 

The levels of Valium and codeine in his blood were dangerously high. There were treatments for the codeine overdose however they couldn’t give them as it could interact with the Valium. Instead it was a waiting game. 

Jason was transferred to ITU after the doctor finished talking with Talia. Her son had slipped into a coma and they just had to hope that he’d be strong enough to breakdown the drugs. Discussions already starting of a potential kidney filtration to aid the liver in clearing them from his body. 

Talia desperately wanted Jason moved. There was too higher risk of the Bats discovering what had happened and hunting them down. The last thing the hospital needed was her stabbing any of the hometown heroes. However, she wasn’t able too, his condition too unstable to manage such a long flight. 

For a week straight Talia was at Jason’s bedside from 8am to 10pm. The ward kicking her out when visiting time closed regardless of the money she tried to throw around, patient safety and care trumping her need to be by her son. 

On the third day of her going to and from the hospital her other son appeared. He looked dishevelled and clearly hadn’t slept recently. A fact that became even more evident when he climbed into her lap and began to cry quietly. Her son knowing it was safe to show emotion if she or his brother were near. 

With the arrival of her son she knew it would be only a matter of time until her ex appeared. So she waited and prepared. Everywhere they could be placed, an assassin she trusted guarded Jason. No action too little when it came to keeping the man away and her boys safe. 

One week turned into two. Two turned into a month. The days dragging along as Jason seemed to remain stable with only minor increases in health, such as being taken off the blood filtration system. 

Still, a month passed and there had been no sign of the Bat. No lurking shadows. No obnoxious Bruce. No demands to see ‘his’ son. Nothing. 

It was making Talia uneasy. She knew the doctor would have written down what she’d said about the scarring to his neck. Preventing Bruce from barging in as the Prince of Gotham wanting to see a son he’d long thought dead. She knew he would do something so underhanded as to force the resurrection of Jason Todd and dismiss both his real name of Jason al Ghul’s and his civilian name of Jason Head. 

The Bat didn’t need to worry about such things. He should have been here by now, or at least sent a bird in his place. Talia knew Damian didn’t count as he’d informed her that first day he’d arrived that he’d made his choice. He wanted his brother more than his father. 

Finally the day came when the Head family were given permission to move Jason. The medic stoically going through the meeting with his ITU physician. She understood that the man wasn’t implying he knew more than her, or was better skilled than her, he was just checking how comfortable she felt in handling such a reliant patient as many complications could arise during transport. 

Still, the Bat did not come. 

**** 

Jason awoke from his coma with all the grace of a teenager being awoken. Sluggishly and without full mobility. His muscles wasting away after three and a half months bedridden. 

Looking around he found his Ummi and brother. Everything felt weird. He knew lost time but it didn’t feel like it. It felt like he’d just woken up after taking the pills. The only way he knew time had passed is the faint memory of Talia, Damian, and Ra’s talking to him. 

“Don’t strain yourself Habibi. You’ve been asleep a while.” His Ummi’s voice soothed the hurt he felt at none of his friends of his partner being there. 

Then again, Jason supposed, why would they wait around for him. He was broken. A defect that should have died at birth yet the fates kept keeping him here.

As if sensing the thoughts within her son, Talia squeezed his arm. Always taking care to never squeeze his hand and silence him. “Damian can you tell Ayla to call Roy please. He can bring the other two from the hotel.” She looked over at her son, catching the green-blue eyes she didn’t think he’d ever open again. “Oh don’t look so shocked you. Obviously your friends and Kyle were worried about you. Little Lian is a sweetheart who hasn’t stopped making a surprise for when you wake up. She won’t even tell me what it is.” 

Jason watched his little brother scamper from the room before turning back to Talia. How bad’s the damage? 

Both knew what he meant. How badly had the Bat reacted to what he’d only see as a cry for attention and his youngest fleeing. How severe were any ramifications to his body. How much had he disappointed his mother. 

“There has still been no word from him, not even to check if Damian is safe. Richard and Stephanie have phoned him weekly but he doesn’t tell me how those conversations go.” She took a steadying breath. The moment reminding Jason of years ago when Talia had told him Bruce had stolen his voice. 

“You almost died Habibi.” The feared woman whispered. Suddenly sounding like a mother who’d nearly lost her child and not the iron woman who ruled the boardroom. “If it wasn’t for the residual Lazarus in your blood you would have done, and if it wasn’t for your white lantern partner then you’d be looking at a liver transplant.” 

It was all a little too much to take. Bruce had proved he didn’t care. He had let Damian leave without a fight, had ignored the near-death of someone he claimed as a son once upon a time. Worst of all Kyle had been forced to use his blue light to save Jason from the pain he felt he deserved upon waking. 

****   
It had been a year to the day since Jason had swallowed quadruple the lethal dose of prescription medications and a lot had changed. He had stepped back from The Outlaws, Donna leaving the Titans to join up with the anti-hero group to spend more time with her lovers. Kyle still had his space work, except he’d managed to expand the white lantern corp so he wasn’t needed as far afield. 

The biggest change was in Jason himself. The man had stepped back from the work he’d been doing with his friends to focus on the job he’d one day be doing for his family. Ra’s mentoring him in everything that was required to run the League of Assassins. 

He sorted out missions and targets for their workers along with maintaining and strengthening the rapport he’d built with people within the city. Ra’s was impressed by his strength and ability to command. His eldest grandson having that little something that Damian had lacked. That edge that had kept him alive time and time again. 

This day was meant as a celebration. A celebration of Jason beating every odd he’d been given. His body surviving the ordeal of an overdose with minimal after effects; he’d mainly had to swear off taking any form of either medication unless it was absolutely necessary. His family were stronger and back together. 

Still one little thought lingered. Why had Bruce been so distant the past year? Why had he not fought for his son? Just why was Ra’s so sure whenever he reassured Jason that he was safe after a panic attack. 


End file.
